09:09
The Deputy Speaker of the Afghan Parliament, Khalid Pashtoon, wants international troops like New Zealand's SAS to be more involved in the country's security operations, rather than just playing a mentoring role. The politicking over the role of foreign troops in Afghanistan comes as US General David Petraeus begins handing over command of foreign troops in Afghanistan.

09:27
Brian Easton is an economist who is writing New Zealand's full economic history, spanning from 650 million years ago until the present day. His book is tentatively titled Not In Narrow Seas. One of the key themes is the long periods of economic stagnation that New Zealand has suffered - including the one at present.

10:10
Australian Jennifer Barrie and her family were on the yachting trip of a lifetime, before becoming marooned on remote Micronesian island Mogmog following a massive storm. Her new book, Marooned on Mogmog, tells of the love-hate relationship they had with the locals while they rebuilt their catamaran over the span of several months.

11:26
What happens to teenagers who are escape the fundamentalist sect they have grown up in? We speak to Sons of Perdition documentary maker Tyler Measom, himself raised in the Mormon church, who followed the lives of three such teens after they were forced into exile from a strict fundamentalist sect.

09:05 A senior Afghan politican calls for NZ's SAS troops to be more involved in security

The Deputy Speaker of the Afghan Parliament, Khalid Pashtoon, wants international troops like New Zealand's SAS to be more involved in the country's security operations, rather than just playing a mentoring role. The politicking over the role of foreign troops in Afghanistan comes as US General David Petraeus begins handing over command of foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Thomas Johnson, Afghanistan specialist and the director of the Program for Culture & Conflict Studies at the US Naval Postgraduate School; and Najibullah Lafraie, former Afghan Foreign Minister, who is now a political studies lecturer at Otago University.

09:25 The economic history of NZ

Economist Brian Easton is writing New Zealand's full economic history - spanning from 650 million years ago until the present day. His book is tentatively titled Not In Narrow Seas. One of the key themes he is focusing on is the long periods of economic stagnation that New Zealand has suffered - including one at present.

09:45 US correspondent Jack Hitt

How the News Corporation phone hacking scandal is being viewed in the US.

10:05 Jennifer Barrie - shipwreck survivor

Australian Jennifer Barrie's family was shipwrecked on the tiny island of Mogmog in Micronesia where they remained stranded for several months. They had been on the yachting trip of a lifetime before becoming marooned following a massive storm on one of the world's most remote islands. Her book Marooned on Mogmog tells of the family's experience and the ensuing love/hate relationship with the locals while they rebuilt their catamaran.

10:35 Book Review with Paul Diamond

The Silence Beyond: Selected Writings by Michael King
Edited by Rachael King
Published by Penguin

Tyler Meason is the producer, director and cinematographer of the documentary Sons of Perdition, which followed three teenagers from the polygamist sect the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints over three years as they leave their isolated compound and join an underground network of exiled FLDS teens. Tyler Measom was himself raised in the Mormon church.

The ongoing crisis facing Rupert Murdoch, a final obituary for public-service TV with the passing of the bill abolishing the charter and the way Labour's capital gains tax policy was released and covered.

From nine to noon every weekday, Kathryn Ryan talks to the people driving the news - in New Zealand and around the world. Delve beneath the headlines to find out the real story, listen to Nine to Noon's expert commentators and reviewers and catch up with the latest lifestyle trends on this award-winning programme.

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Coming Up on Nine To Noon

10:05 am Wednesday 4 March: Freddy Kempf

British concert pianist Freddy Kempf is in demand around the world performing, and increasingly conducting orchestras from the piano.

The 38-year-old made his debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of eight. But his adult career really began to take off when he didn't win the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1998. His third placing provoked a barrage of protests from the audience and the Russian press who accused some of the judges of bias.

He speaks with Kathryn about his love of Beethoven, of performing and the challenges of the job.

11:05 am Wednesday 4 March: Artist of the Week: The Pop Group

One of the first and most influential post-punk bands, The Pop Group came from Bristol mixing elements of reggae, dub, Krautrock, punk, funk and whatever else the four bandmembers were listening to at the time. Their original run was short and abrasive releasing two albums and a handful of singles in 1979 and 1980. By 1981 they had disbanded, but not before leaving an indelible impression that lasts to this day. Nick Cave was just one of The Pop Group’s biggest fans and chances are other post-punk bands such as Gang Of Four, Wire and The Slits owe a huge debt as well. The band has recently reunited, completely intact and have just released a new album, 'Citizen Zombie'. It sounds as fresh, aggressive and dangerous as their records from 35 years ago. They play their first and only NZ concert Wednesday night at The Kings Arms.

10:05 am Thursday 5 March: The Bletchley Girls

The story of World War Two code breaker Alan Turing has just been told in the film The Imitation Game. But what the film misses, is the story of the thousands of women who also worked at Bletchley Park – the hub of Britain’s most secret organisation, where German, Japanese and Italian encrypted messages were deciphered.

Six thousand women worked at Bletchley Park during the war, many of them operating the code-cracking machines developed there. They were forbidden to talk about their war work, and many went for decades without speaking of it.

Award-winning British broadcaster and historian Tessa Dunlop tracked down 15 veteran women and features their stories in a new book The Bletchley Girls. War, secrecy, love and loss: the women of Bletchley Park tell their story.

10:05 am Friday 6 March: Sonia Faleiro

In her latest book, 13 Men, award-winning Indian-born journalist and author, Sonia Faleiro investigates one of her country's high profile rape cases, in which it was alleged a 20-year-old was gang raped under orders of the village council for falling in love with an outsider. Sonia Faleiro travelled to the isolated village in West Bengal and interviewed the victim as well as local villagers and the village council and found the media coverage of the story had been in many cases wrong, and the issues were far more complex than many realised.

Sonia Faleiro has previously delved into the murky world of Bombay's dance bars and has written for Vogue India, India Today and the New York Times. She a co-founder of Deca, a global journalists cooperative that creates long-form stories to read on mobile devices